Improvement in breech-loading fire-arms



C. O. WOOD.

Breech-Loading Fire-Arm. No. 30,372. Patented Oct 9,1860.

NJETERS, PMOTO-UTHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON, D. O.

PATENT ()FFICE.

OORBIN O. WOOD, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN BREECH-I OADING FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 30,372, dated October 1860.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, 001mm 0. Wool), of the city and county of Worcester, State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Construction of Fire-Arms; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 shows a side view of my invention as applied to gun or pistol, with a part of the stock removed to show the arrangement of parts. Fig. 2 is a side view of the same when ready for loading, and Fig. 3 shows some variations hereinafter to be described, the same letters indicating the same parts where they occur in each.

My improvements relate to that class of firearms known as breech-loading, and in which the barrel is moved out of line to allow the primed cartridge to be inserted, and is returned to place to be fired.

To construct my improvements, I make a barrel, A, (see drawings,) and hang it on a pin' or pivot at J in the stock B B, a short distance from the breech, the bore of the barrel being recessed at the breech to receive the loaded cap I in the usual way, and make a projection, E, firmly'connected to the barrel, and a groove or recess for the lever G, so that its upper end shall fit under the edge of I, and the-lower end of the sight-piece D is fitted in a similar way. The lever G is made with a catch at its lower end to limit the motion of the barrel, or, in other words, form a stop by hitting the stock.

0 is a catch-lever hung at L, and having a stud or pin at the end to fit the notch K, to retain the barrel in place when discharging, its other end passing a cavity, 0, in the stock or projecting from the stock to be conveniently operated. Beneath the barrel is left room for the spring H, if wanted. The stock B is made to extend to form a support for the pin J, and with a recess for the projection E, whose adjacent face F shall fit it to relieve the pin J of the strain of the discharge, and with the face or plate of the stock B, which comes to the end or breech of the barrel, beveled or sloped at its upper part, so that when the cap I is put in the position shown in Fig. 2 and the barrel forced down said slope or bevel shall drive it into place, and it then passes on and fits the fiat part of the face below.

The construction of the other parts (not shown) may be of most any of the usual methods, and therefore it is not thought necessary to detail them.

The operation is, on elevating the barrel A, (after releasing the catch-lever 0,) the lever G withdraws the discharged cap by its upper end, its'motion being produced by its lower part hitting the lower part of the face of B, and when the barrel is high enough its projectionthat is, of Gholds it from going higher, and in caseswhere the cap splits, or breaks, so that the lever G does not withdraw the whole of it or start it, then by pressing the upper part of D forward its lower end will start the remainder, or in some cases one of the levers may be left out and the other found sufficient. Then to load, the old cap is re moved and a new one put in its place and the barrel forced down. The slope of the face of B drives in the cap, and it passes down to the flat part with a good fit to be in proper condition to fire. The catch-lever 0, being sprung out by the sloping surface of the barrel, springs into its place K and retains the barrel firm. As in some cases the described form of G may not be convenient, a variation of it is shown in Fig. 3, where the link Mis put below the barrel, with pin to the stock and to the barrel, and its lower end connected by the rod N to G, thus giving it motion as before, and also forming the stop for the barrel. This variation may in some cases be preferred.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Limiting the amount of motion of the barrel by the catch on lever G, when constructed and operating substantially as described.

2. Making the lever G serve the double purpose of withdrawing the cartridge and limit ing the amount of motion of the barrel, as set forth and described.

OORBIN O. WOOD. 

